Tag: Holborn Assets

  • Quilter: Critical or Hypocritical?

    Quilter: Critical or Hypocritical?

    • Fraud Alert
    • Quilter Logo

    Recent data obtained by Quilter (formerly Old Mutual International and Royal Skandia) under a freedom of information request has further highlighted the issue of financial education, or rather the lack of it, with many casualties of fraud ‘unaware they may have fallen victim‘ to such a scheme.

    Quilter plc (the well-known asset/wealth management company, “life office”, and old friends of ours) has recently acquired figures clearly showing an absence of any kind of appropriate action from the ironically-named Action Fraud organisation. This data demonstrates that despite 400 pension fraud reports having been submitted to the inept crime-reporting centre in 2019 alone, as few as 26 of these cases were passed on to the police to investigate – representing just 6.6% of the total cases they handled.

    YearPension fraud reports received by Action FraudPension fraud reports reviewed by NFIBPension fraud reports disseminated to the police and other agencies
    20151353208208
    20165479797
    20174096262
    20183464638
    20193944626
    Up to July 2020161*N/K** 24*
    Christopher Copper-Ind @intlinvestment
    14 September 2020

    *Figures omit February 2020 bulk upload of retrospective reports to avoid misrepresenting case volumes in 2020.

    ** Figure not disclosed in the FOI response

    These same figures show that this year (as of July 2020), of the 161 pension fraud reports that were received by Action Fraud, only 24 have been disseminated to the relevant police force for investigation after the information was reviewed by NFIB (the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau). While this may represent a slight statistical improvement on previous years, this is neither good enough nor in any way acceptable – both for the victims of financial fraud, and the honest, decent, hardworking IFA’s out there who have seen the reputation of their profession suffer greatly at the hands of fraudsters and scammers alike.

    The time has come to call out the thieves in their midst!

    Scams, and the lack of an active regulator in place to ensure their non-proliferation, undermine the reputation of the industry itself – and of any decent advisers out there.

    The supposed altruism behind the actions of Quilter, who have seen the story of their plucky attempt at standing up for the little guy circulated by almost every major financial publication available in the UK, and by a fair few online and overseas English-language webpages/articles besides, is questionable at the very best – and a downright attempt at pulling the famous ‘Kansas City Shuffle‘ (when everybody looks right, you go left) at worst. I would like to use this opportunity to call “bull-“, as I believe I have heard my American friends say when faced with a claim that is clearly one of the more than 50 shades of bovine excrement currently available from all major stockers of the substance.

    Quilter has, in the past ten years, facilitated hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of pension scams with their “fertilizer”-based products.

    Previously operating under the name Old Mutual International, OMI or Old Mutual for short, Quilter has helped the serial scammers behind all kinds of financial skullduggery get away with murder (or should I say fraud, to be more specific) under the – cough – “watchful” gaze of their CEO Paul Feeney, and Peter Kenny (another old friend of this publication).

    It seems that almost every shady offshore firm has been taking advantage of Quilter and other life offices just like them being asleep at the wheel, with hordes of unlicensed investment firms popping up with increasing frequency and success in virtually every expat jurisdiction (especially Spain: e.g. Darren Kirby and Jody Smart at Continental Wealth Management).

    Quilter are (at least partially) to blame. The well-known asset management company’s lack of responsibility when it comes to selling inappropriate products to any suitor who comes a-calling is – at this point – bordering on criminal negligence. (And that’s if you remove the border…)

    Quilter are fully aware that the statistics they’ve obtained (£30,857,329 lost to UK pension scams since 2017) are downright misleading. They fall woefully short of demonstrating even the losses incurred by their own (Quilter’s) facilitation of financial crime in recent years generally – and the last three years particularly.

    ‘Tip of the Iceberg‘ indeed! Even the Titanic was given some sign of the peril hidden in the depths of the Atlantic as it hurtled to its certain and untimely demise!

    Yet when it comes to financial fraud and investment scams (particularly those that involve unsuspecting clients’ pension pots), there is almost no pre-emptive warning given to the public, except for massively underestimated figures produced by the very people who have been clearing the way for the scammers from day one. And by that, I do – of course – mean the life offices (like Quilter/OMI) themselves.

    I would like to take this opportunity to quote Jon Greer, who is the Head of Retirement Policy at Quilter. Mr Greer said: “We are entering a period of considerable economic uncertainty, and one in which generating a decent return on your investments will be extremely challenging. This is the ideal environment for scammers to thrive and it is no surprise to see huge amounts of money still being lost each year at the hands of criminals.

    The fact that it is so hard to investigate and prosecute pension scams is effectively handing pension scammers a get out of jail free card. If you are mugged, it’s highly likely that the police will investigate, but lose your life savings to a pension scammer and your odds don’t look good.

    – Jon Greer, Head of Retirement Policy @ Quilter

    “Pension scams and other investment frauds are extremely complex, they can span multiple jurisdictions, and can often go uncovered for years before the victim realises their money is gone. This all makes investigating the scams incredibly time-consuming and expensive, which is why the police have to prioritise those few cases where they have a chance of success.

    “The government have taken action on unsolicited pension calls with the ban on cold calling, but scammers are sidestepping the legislation and moving online. Movement on the regulation of search engines and social media platforms has been painfully slow and the regulation has failed to keep up with the evolution of scammers.

    “The government has a perfect opportunity to bring the regulation into the 21st century by including financial harms within scope of the forthcoming Online Harms Bill. This will mean that, for the first time, search engines and social media platforms will be bound by a statutory duty of care to tackle harm caused as a result of content or activity on their services.”

    “In doing so, search engines and social media providers will be legally required to remove suspected scammers immediately on notification, and not allow them to operate in the first place, or face sanctions from the new regulator,” he said.

    As you can see Mr. Greer, and by association Quilter, talk a good fight and hit on almost every relevant point a consumer would want to hear from a company of their standing and stature within the financial industry; projecting themselves as a shining light – pouring their beacon out over the surrounding landscape and frightening any existing/would-be scammers out from their hiding places, while at the same time calling on the government for harsher penalties and swifter action to be taken (measures which Quilter themselves, and companies just like them, have blocked on numerous occasions).

    And all this “bright light-shining” has served its purpose: leaving regulators, government and public alike too dazzled to notice the wrongdoing going on behind the source of the so-called light and within Quilter‘s very own doorstep!”

    The narrative that Quilter/Old Mutual/OMI would have you believe is a ridiculous one, one of the main reasons I have written this piece is to challenge that narrative; and hopefully make you (the reader) think about a company that damns financial fraudsters and scammers alike with one hand, while secretly feeding them with the other.

    The grim reality is substantially different from the one that Quilter aim to project for themselves. That being said, it makes my reply to J. Greer’s well put comments even easier:

    “Actions speak louder than words, and all we’re hearing is a deafening silence. If you truly believe the message your company has spent tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of pounds to tell us – by buying article space from any major financial publication that would have you, and getting them to run the story you wanted to put out there.

    It’s time to put your money where your mouth is, quite literally; and begin funding the financial education sorely needed in schools and workplaces throughout the country that will serve to prevent the kind of investment-based crime you claim to stand against!

    “Oh and maybe, just maybe, improve upon your company’s policies so that you do not sell the very products that facilitate thieves who have stolen hundreds of millions of pounds by misselling those same products in just the last few years, whilst simultaneously trying to absolve yourselves of any blame.

    “To put it simply: don’t take your definition of “action” from Action Fraud…”

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  • RL360 and FPI – ’til death (or poverty) do us part

    RL360 and FPI – ’til death (or poverty) do us part

    RL360’s acquisition of Friends Provident International may be set to ruin even more investors internationally. It will certainly increase competition with Quilter (or Skandia, or Ann Summers or whatever OMI are calling themselves this season).

    RL360's toxic acquisition of FPI will be a marriage made in hell, unless David Kneeshaw pays compensation to FPI's victims. Thousands of FPI policy holders have lost their life savings due to being invested in high-risk, unsuitable investments.

    The biggest question – and one which International Adviser’s Kirsten Hastings forgot to ask RL360 David Kneeshaw when she interviewed him on 16.7.2020 – is:

    Why on earth RL360 wanted to buy a company which is being sued for £millions after thousands of FPI victims lost their life savings in a high-risk fund mis-selling scandal?

    During the International Adviser 12-minute video, Kirsten never brought the subject up once. Forgetfulness? Deliberately avoiding the issue? FPI is being sued alongside Quilter – main sponsor of International Adviser.

    Kneeshaw seemed like an amiable fellow in the interview as he proudly announced that “all good things come to those who wait” (a sentiment with which thousands of death bond investors would strongly disagree). Kneesup also proclaimed that he is glad to be able to integrate the businesses and that the marriage has produced a “good, strong, stable company”.

    But the question hung in the air like a fart in an elevator: what about the £100m+ worth of high-risk funds which were “entirely inappropriate for unsophisticated investors” (International Adviser’s words – not mine). And why didn’t Kirsten mention it? And why didn’t Kneesup explain what provision he has made to compensate thousands of FPI’s victims?

    Kneesup confirmed that RL360 paid £259 million for FPI (£209 million in cash and £50 million in deferred cash). So has he kept back another hundred million or so to settle FPI’s liabilities to its victims who have lost their life savings?

    Victims staring financial ruin in the face will want to know why RL360 didn’t just pay – say – £159 million for FPI and keep back £100 million for the victims. Or perhaps the £50 million in “deferred cash” is being put aside for that?

    Or maybe, FPI should have paid RL360 to take the company away and sort out the toxic and destructive mess which has ruined thousands of policy holders.

    Kneesup went on to proclaim that the future of FPI “is secure and can carry on as normal”. Well, I bloody well hope not! “Normal” has been an absolute disaster which has resulted in a catastrophe of epic proportions. FPI was giving terms of business to hordes of unlicensed, unscrupulous, unqualified “advisers” (in reality, just bond salesmen).

    These “Chiringuitos” (as the Spanish regulator refers to them in their warning about financial scams) have destroyed £ millions in their relentless quest for commission.

    The deeply iniquitous practices – so enthusiastically facilitated by life offices – included charging victims fees, plus an 8% commission on the (entirely unnecessary) insurance bonds, plus further commissions on the toxic investments offered by the life offices.

    Another “hot” topic that Kneesup failed to mention was how the RL360/FPI “marriage” intends to compete with Quilter in the “race to the bottom” of offshore financial services. Of course, it won’t exactly be difficult since Peter Kenny – CEO of Quilter/Ann Summers – will deal with any old “advisers”. Kenny certainly isn’t fussy: the sole director of one of his leading “clients” from 2010 to 2017 was a former prostitute and porn star (whose firm destroyed much of the £100m placed in insurance bonds and invested in structured notes).

    However, I really do like to give people the benefit of the doubt. Assuming that Kneesup does have at least a few honourable intentions, here are some friendly suggestions as to how the RL360/FPI marriage could help clean up this toxic “death bond” industry:

    • Don’t deal with advisory firms which don’t have a license
    • Don’t deal with advisory firms which don’t have an investment license
    • Don’t deal with advisory firms whose “advisers” aren’t qualified
    • Don’t deal with advisory firms who have a history of investing their victims’ life savings and pensions in toxic crap (high-risk, professional-investor-only funds and structured notes)
    • Don’t pay commissions – if the insurance bonds are any good, and the clients genuinely need them, the products will sell themselves
    • Don’t tie investors in for fixed terms – give them the flexibility to get out whenever they want or need to
    • Don’t offer investments – the industry has shown it is incapable of performing asset reviews and weeding out toxic rubbish
    • Keep the fees in proportion to the fund value – allow flexibility/drawdown without unnecessary “drag” on the funds
    • Only allow advisers to sell insurance bonds when they are actually needed (which is hardly ever)

    But the biggest friendly suggestion of all to the amiable Mr. Kneesup with the fringe on top is:

    RL360's acquisition of FPI has the potential to increase financial scams Worldwide. Either David Kneeshaw can help clean up this toxic landscape, or become just another scammer like Peter Kenny of Quilter.

    Address the elephant in the room: pay compensation to the thousands of FPI and RL360 victims who have lost their life savings and are facing financial ruin.

    In his euphoria at the completion of the acquisition of FPI, Kneesup must remember that the insurance bond is the World’s biggest cause of offshore financial crime. Insurance bonds have been ruled by the Spanish Supreme Court as being invalid for the purpose of holding investments. Virtually all insurance bonds ever sold in Spain have been done so illegally – it is a criminal offence to sell insurance bonds outside the precise stipulations of the Spanish insurance regulations in Spain.

    I really hope that the elephant in the room will be dealt with. David Kneeshaw has a golden opportunity to help reform the offshore financial services industry. He can emerge from the appalling news of this marriage made in hell as a hero in shining armour – or just another sordid perpetrator of scams and financial crime. He can put Quilter’s Peter Kenny to shame, or become just as bad as him. The World will be watching. Let us hope Kneeshaw chooses wisely – and becomes “Kneesup” rather than “Kneesdown”.

    A number of “advisory” firms are now facing criminal proceedings for fraud, disloyal administration and falsification of commercial documentation – all of which involved the illegal sale of Quilter, RL360 or FPI insurance bonds. Kneeshaw now has a choice: help tackle this widespread crime, or keep on facilitating it.

  • Ten Essential Standards For Pension Advice

    Ten Essential Standards For Pension Advice

    Ten Essential Standards For Pension Advice:

    The ongoing war against pension scammers continues with no sign that the end is near.  The authorities stand idly by – facilitating mis-selling and outright fraud.

    HMRC happily registers pension scam after scam after scam (followed by tax demands).   Prosecutions are few and far between.

    The only conclusive way to stop scammers is to ensure there are no victims for them to scam. AND the only way to do this is to educate consumers and drum the TEN STANDARDS into them.

    PENSION SCAMMERS MUST BE STOPPED!

    Ten Essential Standards For Pension Advice:

    Do you know what a pension scammer looks like? The unfortunate answer is, he looks like any other Tom, Dick or Harry (or James, Stephen or Darren) walking down the street. Not only is he good at disguises, he also has the gift of the gab and he will have you convinced that the pension transfer he is offering you will pave the rest of your life with gold. In reality though, the gold will be short lived (or non-existent), and some or all of your fund will probably go poof! (along with the adviser).

    Pension Life Blog - Ten essential standards for every adviser and their firmMuch as a master illusionist takes your breath away with his magic, a master scammer takes your money away with his silver tongue. You will be left wondering just how this smart-looking, sleek-talking ‘adviser’ managed to leave your pension – and probably your life – in tatters. 

    We have compiled a list of ten standards that EVERY firm offering pension advice should adhere to.  Every qualified adviser working for an advisory firm should also be able to meet all of these standards. On Facebook recently, one reader stated: “Why would anyone respond to an unsolicited offer to manage their money from a complete stranger?” The answer is, “I don’t know, but they do!“.  So, get to know a financial adviser long before you let them anywhere near your finances.  

    In the case of Capita Oak, for example, we saw many targeted victims who were struggling financially.  So, the offer of a lump sum release and the opportunity of an investment that promised “guaranteed returns” was music to their ears.

    Pension Life Blog - Ten essential standards for every adviser and their firm

    Many of the victims didn’t stop to think; didn’t pause to ask the right questions; or do any research to make sure the pension offer came from a viable, credible, regulated firm. The victims just said “yes” as they thought the transfer would make life easier.

    For example, with the awful benefit of hindsight – six years on – the Capita Oak victims are grappling with tax demands from HMRC and the possibility that the investment they are trapped in will go into liquidation.  These people all wish they had stopped and thought before going ahead.

    Sadly, the Capita Oak members who were defrauded by a bunch of scammers, (many of which are under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office) such as XXXX, Stuart Chapman-Clarke and Stephen Ward, are not alone.  Thousands of other victims of both UK-based and offshore scams and mis-selling are facing similar regrets: these include victims of scams such as Evergreen New Zealand QROPS; Fast Pensions, Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund/STM Fidecs; Blackmore Global Fund; and Continental Wealth Management.

    Mastermind serial scammer Stephen Ward has orchestrated a whole array of different scams over the last nine years.  One of the biggest ones was Continental Wealth Management – a 1,000-victim scam. Ward was once a fully qualified and registered adviser and a pension trustee. He has destroyed dozens of pensions funds and thousands of victims’ lives. Yet he has never been prosecuted or forced to pay back even one penny of his victims’ losses.  Only at the end of 2018 was he finally banned from being a pension trustee. 

    Most of the known scams used cold-calling techniques to reel in their victims. Whilst we saw a cold-calling ban on pension sales in 2019, we have already had reports that sneaky firms have changed their scripts to avoid fines. AND we are now seeing scammers focus their targets back onto expats. Which makes us worry there will be more QROPS disasters in the pipeline from now on.

    Just a few minutes of research – as well as knowing the right questions to ask and understanding what standards an adviser and firm should adhere to – could have prevented past victims from losing so much of their precious pension pots.  We can’t change what happened in the past – other than to take action against the scammers and negligent advisers – but we can help consumers understand what they should be looking for in an adviser:

    STANDARDS ACCREDITATION CHECKLIST FOR FINANCIAL ADVISERS:

    1. Proof of regulation for all services provided by the firm and individual advisers in the jurisdiction where advice is given
    2. Evidence of appropriate qualifications and CPD for all advisers
    3. Professional Indemnity Insurance
    4. Details of how fact finds are carried out, and how clients’ risk profiles are determined and adhered to
    5. Details of the firm’s compliance procedures – assuring clients of the highest possible standards
    6. Clear and consistent explanation and justification of the use of insurance bonds for pensions and investments
    7. Clear policy on structured notes, UCIS and in-house funds, non-standard assets and commission-paying investments
    8. Full disclosure of all fees, charges and commissions on all products and services at time of sale, in writing
    9. Account of how clients are updated on fund/portfolio performance
    10. Evidence of customer complaints made, rejected or upheld and redress paid

    If the firm you are thinking about using for your pension transfer do not adhere to all of these standards, find one that does. Your pension pot is your life savings – so don’t entrust it to any old unregulated firm or dishonest scammer.  Remember, thousands of victims have already failed to ask the above ten questions – and will regret it for the rest of their lives.

  • NOVIA GLOBAL VS OLD MUTUAL INTERNATIONAL

    NOVIA GLOBAL VS OLD MUTUAL INTERNATIONAL

    The problem with money is that it blows away if you don’t hold it down, tie it up or stuff it down your knickers.  That’s why you need to put it somewhere safe: in a shoe box on top of the wardrobe; under your mattress; in the safe or – if you’re feeling really brave – in the bank.  Trouble is, left in cash, money shrinks (inflation, charges, moths).  This is why so many advisers recommend a platform – aka “somewhere safe” to keep your money.

    So, let’s look at two possible alternatives: the Novia Global platform and the Old Mutual International “bond”.

    I’ve met Bill Vasilieff who runs Novia Global.  He serves Earl Grey and nice biscuits.  A man of few words, and even fewer syllables, he gave me a quick rundown on how the Novia Global platform works – and how much it costs.

    I haven’t met Peter Kenny of Old Mutual International (OMI) – although I have spoken to him several times.  As broadly Irish as Bill is Scottish, Peter Kenny also comes across as a softly-spoken and sincere chap.  But there the similarity seems to end.  Peter stood me up – I got a view of his office waiting room but wasn’t offered a cup of tea (let alone a biscuit).

    Mind you, there isn’t much I don’t know about the Old Mutual International bonds.  I’ve seen thousands of their policyholders’ statements – and they are frighteningly ugly and depressing.  They accurately, faithfully and unemotionally report the destruction of their victims’ atrocious losses.  And OMI regularly (like clockwork!) take their quarterly fees – irrespective of how deep the destruction of the policyholders’ funds is.  In fact, some victims even find themselves in negative figures as OMI continue to account for their fees long after the whole blooming lot has gone.

    Anyway, back to Bill and his welcoming teapot….I can’t really compare him to Pete but I can compare the two products.  So here is a brief and brutal side-by-side line up of what the two “platforms” offer.  And how much they cost.  And how difficult they are to get out of.  And how much financial crime they are associated with.

    So the OMI “life bond” costs almost six times as much as the Novia Global platform.  But that is if you are locked in for five years.  You can get it cheaper – 1.15% – if you get locked in for ten years.  But you must remember that if you are scammed, then OMI will have paid the scammer an 8% commission and you could get stuck with paying the quarterly fees for the next ten years, even if you’ve figured out you’ve been scammed.  And the quarterly fees are based on your original investment – not on the impaired amount.  If you’ve been scammed, and your fund value drops inexorably, the 1.15% will become bigger and bigger.  And even if you lose your whole fund, OMI will keep taking their charges and pushing you further and further into debt.

    A bit like the lyrics to Hotel California, with an OMI “bond”, you can’t check out any time you want, and you can only leave after between five and ten years.  OMI will take that number of years to claw back the commission paid to your adviser – even if you have long since learned that your adviser was an unregulated scammer and has conned you into unsuitable, high-risk, high-commission investments that have badly damaged your fund.  You are stuck with paying the quarterly fees to OMI – even after your whole fund has gone.  One victim went from plus £300k to minus £25k – and counting.  As your funds inside the OMI bond shrink, the 1.15% grows and helps destroy what is left of your fund even faster.  But with the Novia Global platform, you can leave any time you want.  No exit penalties.  No hard feelings.

    In Spain, the Supreme Court has ruled that bogus life assurance policies – such as those provided by Old Mutual International – used to hold investments are illegal.  This is because they are neither proper insurance policies (which take risk in the interests of the consumer) nor are they proper investment platforms.  The Spanish aren’t stupid – they can spot a scam much more easily than other jurisdictions and take action to prevent them from ruining future victims.  This is in stark contrast to the likes of the Isle of Man and Gibraltar – which seem to revel in encouraging scams and protecting firms such as Old Mutual International (and STM Group) which facilitate financial crime on a massive scale.

  • Guest Blog: A new model challenge to the offshore sharks

    Guest Blog: A new model challenge to the offshore sharks

    This blog was writtern almost nine years ago by:

    Carl Melvin BA (Hons), MSc, CFP, FPFS, Chartered FCSI

    Certified & Chartered Financial Planner, Affiliate of the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners, Chartered Wealth Manager.

    Somethings don’t change!

    A new model challenge to the offshore sharks

    Pension Life Blog - Guest blog - A new model challenge to the offshore sharks - Carl Melvin The arrival of wraps allows fee-based financial planners in the UK to offer a sound, client-focused service to expats, who up until recently have been easy prey to unscrupulous offshore IFAs.

    The offshore environment offers unethical ‘advisers’ protect investors and ensure professional behaviour.

    The offshore IFA is assisted by the offshore insurance company. Many are the international divisions of well-known UK insurance companies, which trade on their brand awareness and trust with the public. All too often, the providers create poor quality offshore plans that help the offshore IFA sell the scam to the expat investor.

    Such plans exhibit the following features: l Complex charging structures – with multiple charges such as establishment fees, percentage or flat administration fees and policy charges. l Restrictive terms/lack of flexibility – the providers use obfuscation to hide the lack of flexibility, even though the offshore IFA sells the plan on the basis of flexibility. Enhanced allocation, establishment  periods, surrender penalties for early termination or even reducing the level of contribution are commonplace. Such contracts are wholly unsuitable for expatriate clients.

    High charges – the total costs for such plans are huge but because they are layered between multiple charge types, such as those above, the investor does not fully understand how expensive the plan is.

    In short, these plans are designed to make the product provider and the offshore IFA money, rather than serve the client. Their purpose is to hide big commissions for the salesperson and the massive penalties should the client stop the plan early.

    One ploy that continues is the ‘extended term’ swindle. Here, the salesman sets up the offshore ‘regular savings plan’ with a term of, say, 20 years  or more, even though the expat investor may only have a work contract for three to five years in the country in question.

    So why not set the plan term to three or five years? Because the longer the term, the bigger  the commission. Unfortunately, if the client stops the plan or reduces the contribution level, there are often very severe penalties or administration  costs. It is not uncommon for the first two or  three years’ contributions to be taken in charges, leaving the investor with nothing after saving for years – outrageous!

    No redress

    But then, how are you going to obtain redress? The provider will say the advice was given by the adviser firm, who in turn will blame the individual adviser who happens to have left the company or country. Nor is there any effective ombudsman service to enable the client to be compensated.

    The offshore IFA sector demonstrates the following qualities:

    • Lack of professional standards regarding

    commission disclosure and treating customers  fairly rules l Low levels of professional qualification

    • A sales-led approach rather than a client-centric, service-based approach l Dubious integrity and honesty

    Expats often have high tax-free salaries but no UK pension scheme benefits, so there is a real need for them to engage in financial planning and invest for the future. They are vulnerable to offshore IFAs, many of whom do not behave ethically.

    There is a real need for the New Model Adviser® to engage with the expat community. Such clients would benefit from the higher professional standards, transparency and lack of commission bias that is provided by a fee-only approach.

    Technology now makes it possible for UK financial planners to service expat clients wherever they may be. Email and web conferencing have dissolved the barriers to service that existed before.

    The emergence of wrap platforms will be the final nail in the coffin of the offshore products pedalled  by offshore IFAs. Wraps offer a simple, transparent, flexible and comprehensive wealth management service for expat investors.

    Offshore salesmen move aside – the new model expat adviser has arrived!

    Carl Melvin (CFP) is managing director of Affluent

    Financial Planning

  • Long-Term Savings Pig

    Long-Term Savings Pig

    Long-term savings plans by Friends Provident, Generali, Zurich, Hansard and RL360.  These have been around for years and are typically mis-sold by seedy, unregulated advisory firms.  Why don’t we come up with an alternative? THE LONG-TERM SAVINGS PIG!

    Roughly speaking, the con artists at Friends Provident, Generali, Zurich, Hansard and RL360 structure these products so that for every two pounds saved, one pound goes to the life office and the spiv who sold the plan to the victim in the first place.

    The adviser earns a packet by selling these useless plans and few victims continue saving for more than a few years – long before the end of the term.  Pretty quickly, the con artists’ clients realise they’ve been scammed and that they’ve inadvertently signed up to an expensive, unworkable plan with no flexibility.  They really would have been better off sticking their money under the mattress.

    So here’s my suggested alternative: the LONG-TERM SAVINGS PIG:

    You see, the problem with most long-term savings plans is that you are locked in and there is no flexibility.  Plus there are heavy penalties and half of what you save goes in fees and commissions.

    Imagine being able to save what you want, when you want, for free!  All you have to do is be strict with yourself and save as much as you can, regularly and generously.

     

    The problem is, of course, that so many offshore advisory firms sell products – rather than provide advice.  Advisers earn huge commissions from mis-selling these appalling long-term savings plans – and ruin their clients in the process.

    After as little as a year or two, the victims realise they’ve been conned and that they are simply pouring their hard-earned money into the pockets of the adviser and the life office.

     

     

    In a perfect world, these dreadful products should be banned.  All the advisers who have conned so many victims into believing they are paying into a flexible plan which is good value for money should be prohibited from ever working in financial services again.  And the rogue life offices should be brought to justice and made to refund the victims’ money.

    The reasons why these savings products don’t work are:

    • Few people can guarantee they will be able to save the contracted amount each month for the agreed period.  People’s earnings do fluctuate and circumstances change.
    • Few people actually realise what they are signing up to.  The advisers don’t tell them how expensive and inflexible the plans are.
    • Few people understand that half of what they save will be eaten up by fees and commissions.
    • Most people who get conned into these plans end up abandoning them and writing off what they have lost.

    Remember, it’s your money and your life.  Don’t get conned into giving half your savings to the scammer and the life office.

    Just to make things crystal clear, if you sign up to a 25-year savings plan with one of the leading life offices, you will pay the following amount of fees over the life of the plan:

    46.64% Friends Provident Premier 
    47.80% Generali Vision 
    48.07% Zurich Vista 
    51.28% Hansard Vantage 
    51.68% RL360 Quantum 

    So, if you save a total of £366,600 over 25 years with RL360, you will pay them (and your adviser) £189,460 in fees and commissions.

    BE SMART.  BUY A PIGGY BANK – YOU CAN GET A GOOD ONE FOR UNDER A TENNER WITH 100% BUYER SATISFACTION.

    Risky illiquid  investments from Katar Investments.

    Katar Investment Weapons

     

     

  • Nitwit or Dragonfly? Gambling or Investing?

    Nitwit or Dragonfly? Gambling or Investing?

    Pension Life Blog - Nitwit or Dragonfly? Gambling or Investing? - plutus wealth management - Structured productsNitwit or Dragonfly?  Gambling or Investing?  Are investment losses as a result of a bad adviser or a bad investment?  Or both?  The real question is: how does the consumer tell the difference?  A favourite episode of Fawlty Towers involved Basil’s ill-fated bet on a racehorse called Dragonfly.  Confusion sets in – fuelled by the easily-confused Manuel – and “Dragonfly” gets muddled up with “Nitwit”.  And that is how clients get confused just as easily: by advisers who spout the usual rubbish: capital protected; guaranteed returns; blue-chip investments; solid providers etc.  They just leave out the three most important things: the fat commissions paid to the adviser; the high-risk nature of the “investment” and the fact that structured notes are FOR PROFESSIONAL INVESTORS ONLY (and not for retail investors).

    Equally befuddled – but much less funny – this past few days, has been a bunch of nitwits posing as financial experts on Linkedin.  Almost as barmy as Basil and Manuel, these comedians don’t know the difference between investing and gambling.  Graham Bentley of a firm called gbi2 has been suggesting that structured notes should be revisited as viable “investments” for valued clients.

    Bentley has suggested that structured products are an option that advisers could consider including in their portfolio of investment solutions.  If he is talking about outright scammers, then – of course – he is right.  Structured products pay juicy commissions of up to 8%, so naturally they are a favoured product for these criminals to sell.  Plus, if the clients themselves have so much money they are desperate to get rid of as much of it as possible, as quickly as possible, then structured products are ideal.

    But Bentley is missing the point entirely.  Structured products have, for years, been sold enthusiastically and aggressively by the usual suspects: Leonteq, Nomura, Commerzbank, Royal Bank of Canada and BNP Paribas; bought by scammers such as Continental Wealth Management for the juicy commissions; harboured by crooked life offices such as Old Mutual International.  And the result has been huge losses for hundreds of victims.  In some cases, total destruction of a victim’s life savings.

    Most advisers who sell these toxic products are too thick to understand how they work – and indeed anything beyond the amount of commission they earn out of flogging them is way too tricky to get their simple minds around.  And why should they even bother?  They just sell them, collect their 8% and then move on to the next victim.  What’s to understand?  They know that life offices love them – and indeed Old Mutual International bought £94 million worth of the fraudulent Leonteq ones alone.  It is a delightful circle for all concerned: the scammers get rich, the bent life offices get fat and the structured product providers do very nicely thank you.  And not a single one of them gives a second thought for the victims.

    One cheerful idiot on the Linkedin thread has enthusiastically supported Bentley’s idiotic view:

    Mark Coomber, Chartered MCSI Independent Financial Planner at Plutus Wealth Management

    “Continue to use structured products (as part of portfolios) both personally and for clients with great success.  Most of the negative comments I read about them are born out of ignorance and sheer laziness of some advisers who cannot be bothered to either learn the topic matter or undertake the relevant due diligence.” 

    Pension Life Blog - Nitwit or Dragonfly? Gambling or Investing? - plutus wealth management - Structured productsAnd this guy is chartered!  As a member of the CISI he should know better than to spout such rubbish – and I feel deeply sorry for any clients of Plutus Wealth Management as they are clearly in danger of being sold these toxic products.  In fact, I would go further and suggest the public should be warned about the dangers of using this firm, as Coomber clearly has every intention of flogging his victims these high-risk products.  If he is stupid enough to use them for his own gambling fun, good luck to him.  But he has no right to inflict them on retail clients.

    One of the fraudulent structured notes sold by Leonteq (for 8% commissions to the scammers) was:

    Capital Protection on WTI Crude Oil with a Reference Bond (PDVSA)
    100.00% Contingent Capital Protection | Credit Risk of Reference Bond Issuer | 5.00% p.a. Guaranteed
    Coupon | 6.00% p.a. Conditional Coupon
    ISIN CH0234862669 | Swiss Security Number 23486266
    Final Fixing Date 20/03/2019

    Pension Life Blog - Nitwit or Dragonfly? Gambling or Investing? - plutus wealth management - Structured productsThe term sheet did, to be fair, give a clear warning:

    “Given the complexity of the terms and conditions of this Product an investment is suitable only for experienced Investors who understand and are in a position to evaluate the risks associated with it.”

    Sadly, we have to wait until March 2019 to find out how many victims have lost their shirts on this particular lame horse.

    And this is the problem: most advisers don’t understand structured products themselves – all they understand (and care about) is the fat commission.  They certainly don’t care that the products are fraudulent.  But, more importantly, none of these rogue advisers’ clients are experienced investors.  If they were, they wouldn’t be paying a greedy and irresponsible financial adviser to risk their hard-earned life savings for them.

    STRUCTURED NOTES ARE GAMBLING – NOT INVESTING!

    So my message to Coomber and Bentley is this: read Leonteq’s term sheet:

    “Products involve a high degree of risk, including the potential risk of expiring worthless. Potential Investors should be prepared in certain circumstances to sustain a total loss of the capital invested to purchase this Product.”  And then try to decide which horse is going to win: Dragonfly or Nitwit.

  • Trolley’s Pension Scam Guide

    Trolley’s Pension Scam Guide

    Pension Life Blog - Trolley's Pension Scam GuidePension scammers have a “code”.  Rather like pirates, they are not to be trusted. They pick their words carefully, revealing little; they are sneaky and lack any morals. They are good at disguises and if they fear they may be rumbled, they will disappear over the horizon, never to be seen again. They certainly won’t hang around to help pick up the pieces after their victims have been ruined.  Rest assured, they will take as much as they can get and show no remorse. Living the Life of Riley on your hard-earned money is their reward.

    “Yo ho, yo, ho! A scammer’s life for me”.

     

    Those of you who follow Pension Life, will know that we want to put a stop to pension scammers and are trying our hardest to get as much information as possible out to the public about how to avoid being scammed. We want to educate the masses and stop pension scammers worldwide.

    Those of you who are new readers, may not be aware of how common pension and investment scams are, or how easily you could fall victim to a pension scam. But never fear, we have constructed a series of blogs, videos and cartoons for you to read and watch, so you can swot up on the dos and don’ts when it comes to safeguarding your precious pension fund.

    This video has been constructed to show you the pension scammers’ code of conduct. By familiarising yourself with their techniques, you will be better prepared to spot the scammers and avoid falling victim to their schemes.

    Please look through our archives and read about past scams,  serial scammers and failures of the regulators and police to bring them to justice for their crimes.  Make sure you know all there is to know about the evil and seemingly unstoppable world of pension scammers.

    Above all, read the Trolley’s guide, and see how scammers learn their highly-profitable and destructive trade.  Scammers learn from the best – including the author of this guide.  And then they bring their own individual touch to the art of scamming. 

  • International Adviser and the Old Mutual International/Quilter Scams

    International Adviser and the Old Mutual International/Quilter Scams

    International Adviser and the Old Mutual International/Quilter Scams.  Today’s jolly:

    “Future Advisory Forum Europe 2018”

    at the Courthouse Hotel, Shoreditch, will see a number of players in the financial services industry discussing – presumably – financial services in 2018.  I’ve looked at the agenda, however, and I can’t see anything about pension scams or investment scams and how to prevent them.  Neither can I see anything about bringing negligent, lazy, dishonest, callous, greedy life offices such as Old Mutual International/Quilter to justice for facilitating financial crime.

    I can’t see any evidence of any of the victims of scams either attending or speaking at this do.  Surely to goodness, these people – the first-hand witnesses and experts on the mass destruction of life savings by the likes of Old Mutual/Quilter – should be the stars of the show.  How can anyone discuss the future of financial advice in Europe without examining how the perpetrators operate, and planning how to stop them from doing so in the future?

    International Adviser should hang its head in shame for failing to make sure that the perpetrators – especially Old Mutual International/Quilter – are brought to justice publicly for the destruction of hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of life savings.  And yet IA’s Old Mother Hubbard is consorting with them and giving Quilter’s Ryan Gardner a speaking slot on the “return of volatility”.  How absolutely disgusting and sickening!  The victims of Old Mutual International or Quilter – or whatever the hell they are calling themselves this week to try to obliterate their grubby past – know far more than this idiot will ever know about “volatility”.  One calm and composed victim could sum the subject up in one simple sentence:

    “I started with a lifetime’s worth of savings and now I’ve got nothing – although I’m still paying the OMI quarterly charges”.

    That is pretty bloody volatile I would say.  And all because OMI accepts business from any old filthy, unqualified, unregulated scammers – and pays them handsomely to invest in disgusting, toxic crap like professional-investor-only Leonteq structured notes.

    Apart from IA’s Richard Hubbard and Quilter’s Ryan Gardner, the other speakers should know better and hang their heads in shame for consorting with the scum of financial services and leading perpetrators of financial crime.

    Michelle Hoskin of Standards International intends to speak about a “global movement of change”.  I hope that “change” includes campaigning for all scammers to be brought to justice, and all regulators encouraged to get off their lazy backsides and outlaw scams in their backyards.  Michelle doesn’t say whether she wants the change to be good or bad.  Hopefully, she means “good” – and that should include boycotting any rogue firms such as Old Mutual International which facilitate financial crime.  If this woman wants to know why, she should perhaps ask Ryan Gardner why OMI bought £94 million worth of fraudulent, high risk, toxic crap from Leonteq between 2012 and 2016.

    Then she should ask him why OMI just sat there for six years and watched thousands of victims’ life savings dwindle away to nothing.  While OMI did nothing.  And their victims considered suicide.  Putting that lot right would be a pretty good global movement of change.

    Other speakers at this CONference include Andy Cowin of Sterling – who wants to talk about taking advice on residency and domicile status.  Hopefully, his talk will include advice for OMI’s victims who are in the process of losing their homes and will have nowhere to live thanks to OMI’s negligence.  Residency/domicile is a pretty hot topic for these people.  If Cowin doesn’t address this particular aspect of the subject, he should hang his head in shame.

    And another one is Edward GOTT. Head of FX private clients. Caxton FX.  He’s going to talk about “strategies to help high net-worth customers understand the risks relating to Brexit”.  Hopefully, he is not going to ignore the plight of OMI’s victims – the low to zero net worth people whose only risk right now is starving or freezing to death – and for whom Brexit is irrelevant since OMI have destroyed all their money and they are staring at the prospect of homelessness in any country (whether part of Europe or not).  Hopefully, he’s GOTT the balls to publicly shame OMI for facilitating such large-scale financial crime and hanging their victims out to dry.

    Also on the roster of shame at this disgraceful event is Philip Robotham from Schroders.  He is going to talk about “conversations advisers have with their clients and the investment selection process”.  What he really needs to do is row his bottom to the murky end of the pond and examine why so many scammers were allowed by the likes of OMI to invest clients’ funds in toxic, risky, fraudulent investments.  And why OMI accepted so many investment instructions (in toxic structured notes) from pond life such as unregulated Continental Wealth Management.

    This event is being hosted by Richard Hubbard, Group Editor of Last Word, and Karen Blatchford, Head of International Proposition & Marketing, Old Mutual Wealth.  Hopefully, during the “networking lunch”, their consciences will trouble them enough to give a thought to OMI’s victims.  While Hubbard and Blatchford sip their bloody marys, maybe they will ask OMI what the bloody hell they are going to do about compensating their victims.

    The victims are bound to ask why OMI are spending a huge amount of money sponsoring this event when, in fact, they have paid zero redress to those whose life savings they are responsible for destroying.  Perhaps there are some real investigative journalists out there who would see the disgraceful irony in this and write a proper article on this sickening event.

     

     

  • UAE REGULATOR DOES A BIT OF REGULATING

    UAE REGULATOR DOES A BIT OF REGULATING

    Pension Life Blog - UAE REGULATOR DOES A BIT OF REGULATING - uae insurance authorityInternational Investment has written a jolly good article about the recent action taken by the UAE Insurance Authority – headed up by His Excellency Ibrahim Al Zaabi.  I quote from Gary Robinson’s article:

    “In a statement on the Arabic version on its website the IA has issued a circular confirming the suspension (of Holborn Assets) for a period of three months or until it is satisfied that the company has improved its performance.

    According to Dubai-based sources that International Investment has been speaking to, the IA has written to regulated insurance companies notifying them of their action.”

    I have no doubt that Holborn Assets will rise to the challenge magnificently and in a dignified manner – and will recognise the fact that it is time for the routine misuse of all insurance bonds in offshore financial services to come to an end.  I also doubt Holborn Assets will sell any more RL360 products.

    The Continental Wealth Management debacle must surely serve as a perfect example of how and why insurance bonds should not be used at all – and indeed how and why structured notes should be banned altogether.  And yet, despite the Malta FSC’s lukewarm change in regulations to ban advisers without an investment license and limit structured notes to 30% of a portfolio, useless/pointless insurance bonds and toxic structured notes are very much the norm across the offshore financial services landscape.

    The Eagle-eyed Sheikh Al Zaabi has obviously spotted something that regulators in all jurisdictions which affect British expats have turned a deliberate blind eye to.  Insurance products can, have been, and are routinely abused.  And the abusers often cause heavy losses to thousands of unfortunate victims.  His Eminence also obviously recognises that turning a blind eye damages not only the jurisdiction in question, but also the reputation of financial services in general.

    Quite frankly, it is shameful and embarrassing how many regulators behave (or rather fail to behave).

    The FCA takes no action even when their nose is rubbed into obvious fraud – and let the British Steel disaster happen under their very noses.  In fact it took public-spirited independent financial services professionals such as Al Rush, Darren Cooke and Henry Tapper to take it on themselves to try to rescue the steelworkers while the scammers hovered like vultures.  I would like to be proud to be British, but the FCA is a national disgrace and an embarrassment to all British citizens.  I wouldn’t mind if the FCA was just lazy, but it simply doesn’t care about the interests of those who get conned and scammed.

    The Guernsey FSC allowed many frauds, including trustees Concept Trustees to sell UCIS fund EEA Life Settlements even after the FSA “toxic” warning.  And, of course, EEA Life Settlements itself.  Then the stable door shut with a resounding clang as an ombudsman was brought in, but told not to hear any complaints prior to July 2013.  This effectively excluded all the worst scams which were being carried out in Guernsey by the likes of Concept Trustees – which took business from Stephen Ward’s Premier Pension Solutions which neither had regulation nor professional indemnity insurance.

    Pension Life Blog - UAE REGULATOR DOES A BIT OF REGULATING - uae insurance authorityThe Gibraltar FSC appears to actively encourage outright scammers such STM Fidecs – and when financial crime is brought to their attention they go fishing for a few small, wet fish.  Talking of fish, I think it is very fishy that Paul Garner, now of the Gibraltar FSC, used to work for scammer XXXX XXXX at Global Partners Ltd – the firm that “advised” hundreds of UK-resident victims to transfer their pensions to an STM Fidecs QROPS.  Then STM Fidecs allowed XXXX XXXX to invest 100% of 100% of these victims’ funds into his own UCIS fund: Trafalgar Multi Asset (now in liquidation).  I genuinely don’t know at which point Paul Garner moved over from Global Partners Limited to the Gibraltar FSC……but I have a feeling his leaving do will be an exceptionally (and uncharacteristically) lavish affair – and I am very much hoping to be invited.  I hear there will be something fishy on the menu and Garner’s good fortune will be toasted with something bubbly.  I have no doubt the cleaners will effectively brush all the crumbs under the carpet after the party.

    The Central Bank of Ireland will be put to the test when scammers SEB (formerly Irish Life) are put in the spotlight.  CBI has known for years that SEB – led by Peder Nateus and Conor McCarthy – has been facilitating financial crime.  SEB took £ millions’ worth of business from unlicensed scammers Continental Wealth Management and allowed the whole lot to be invested in toxic structured notes: “for professional investors only”.  These notes – including the fraudulent Leonteq ones (over which OMI is now suing Leonteq) clearly warned of the “danger of loss of part or all of your capital”.  And yet SEB sat there and watched while hundreds of CWM‘s clients’ victims’ life savings were destroyed – and did nothing.  This has left many victims in despair and poverty – with some contemplating suicide.

    Against this backdrop of extreme ineptitude and collusion amongst this collection of chocolate teapots, motorbike ashtrays and fishnet willy warmers, let us all hope that the UAE Insurance Authority shows all these no-hopers what effective regulation should look, smell and feel like.

     

     

     

  • Holborn Assets’ Kensington Fund – Another Trap to Ruin Victims

    Holborn Assets’ Kensington Fund – Another trap to ruin victims.  Why do I say that?  There are many reasons:

    1. Firstly, Holborn Assets should compensate the existing victims of past scams before contemplating moving on to new ones.  There are plenty of Holborn Assets clients facing disastrous losses because of being invested in toxic UCIS funds such as Premier New Earth Recycling and high-risk, professional-investor-only structured notes.  Surely, a firm which is as hopeless as that with investments shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near an investment fund?  Holborn Assets has already proved it doesn’t understand investments and only has the mentality to flog whatever high-risk crap earns the most commission.
    2. Secondly, Holborn Assets’ previous in-house fund, LF Partners, was a dismal performer.  It flat-lined at best, and the high charges ate into what little was left of the investments.  Holborn Assets have demonstrated they have zero expertise in choosing or managing funds.  But what do you expect – they are a shower of ice cream salesmen with few qualifications in financial services, and hardly likely to have any training in investment fund management
    3. The way Holborn Assets encourages their troupe of snake-oil salesmen to recruit as many victims as possible is to encentivise them with “privileges” based on their sales volume.  This includes invitations to the booze and drug-fuelled orgies – such as earlier this year in Tanzania (with an even more depraved version planned for 2019 in Cambodia).
    4. Holborn Assets employs the dregs of the financial services World – mostly unqualified, unprincipled and unscrupulous.  Including Paul Reynolds – banned and fined by the FCA – and Darrin Brownlee-Jones – jailed for killing a motorcyclist – the Holborn Assets staff are a motley crew at best.  A den of thieves at worst.  Even worse, everyone in the firm seems to be happy to stand by and see innocent people’s lives destroyed by Holborn Assets‘ hard-sell tactics, and greedy investment arrangements which disadvantage the investors but pay handsome commissions to the Holborn Assets salesmen.

    Back to the Kensington fund.  I posted an invitation to comment on the fund yesterday on Linkedin – Monday 18th June 2018.  My post has got over 2,300 views in less than 24 hours – and the industry experts are clearly outraged.  The views range from Cape Town to Edinburgh; from Aviva and Brooks Macdonald to Globaleye and Standard Bank Group.

    Some of the comments include:

    “With so many multi-manager, multi-asset funds with demonstrable track records, why would a company chose to recommend a fund that is only weeks old and potentially risk clients money?”

    “High commissions, zero repercussions”

    “Kensington – is being promoted as Holborn Assets’ “flagship” fund whilst sharing the same Director”

    “If you read the instrument of incorporation on the above link and look at “Fees” it suggests the fund can pay 7% up front on a share trade to a range of bodies….”

    “No sign of a prospectus or Kiid document either …. about as transparent as a brick…. avoid”

    The Kensington Fund website doesn’t tell us much about the fund.  It claims to “partner” with Schroders, Rathbones and Marlborough (I wonder if these funds even know!).  It doesn’t tell us who is running the fund or responsible for investment decisions.

    The Kensington Fund was listed on 12.4.2018 – so it is a brand new fund with no information, no history and no performance.  It quotes “virtual” performance by quoting a backtest to try to create the illusion that it can, in the future, perform well.

    There are no details of costs, no fact sheets, no details of who is making the investment decisions.  The directors are Scott Balsdon, Director of Holborn Assets, Globaleye and Adamou Riyad, CCO of Holborn Assets (and Noel Ford).  So the fund is run by the same cowboys who run Holborn Assets – yeehaa!

    So, apart from all the above reasons why Holborn Assets’ Kensington fund should be drowned at birth, is the fact that nobody will just pick up the phone and sort out the mess of the past.  Instead, they just want to go ahead and cause more messes.

    And, finally, Holborn Assets forge five-star Trustpilot reviews.  How sad is that?

    My advice to any potential victims of Holborn Assets’ Kensington fund: remember that by the time you have paid for the ten-year insurance bond and then have 100% of your life savings invested in this dreadful fund, you will have lost 15% of your money.  Avoid Holborn Assets’ Kensington Fund – or, better still, avoid Holborn Assets.

     

     

  • Qualified or not qualified? That is the question.

    Qualified or not qualified? That is the question.

    Pension Life Blog - Qualified or not qualified? that is the question. Qualified Financial AdviserI have been working for Pension Life for five months.  I help Angie Brooks with blogging, images and social media networking. When editing a blog the other day, a question struck me: how do we know if anyone who offers a service is qualified to do so?  For example, be it the dentist, doctor or financial adviser. When we go to the doctor at, say, an NHS-registered surgery, we don´t ask for the doctor’s certificate, qualifications or credentials.  We assume that the NHS has done all the checking and that the doctor we see is qualified.

    Pension Life blogs often talk about regulated and unregulated firms and qualified financial adviser and unqualified financial adviser. The world of finance, unfortunately, harbours some downright greedy wrong’uns with pound signs in their eyes.  These wrong’uns are happy to swan about giving unqualified and regulated advice and hopefully stay under the radar.

    I thought that a blog explaining the qualifications needed to advise someone on their pension and investments would be an invaluable blog to have in the Pension Life blog archives.

    I work in pensions and finance, but I am not a qualified financial adviser. I have studied Multimedia and Cultural Studies – I have a bachelor of Arts degree – and here is where I apply my skills to – specifically – the pension side of finance. This does not, however, mean I am in any way qualified to give pensions and investment advice – as I am not qualified to do so.

    Pension Life blogs - Pension life calls for a ban on cold calling to help prevent pension liberation scams and protect victims. - Qualified Financial Adviser

    However, here in the Pension Life office we are well aware that there are many unqualified and unregulated people offering financial advice to pension holders. The tragic result is that many people are falling victim to pension and investment scams as they are not aware of the qualifications which must be held in order to offer this kind of financial advice.

    Pension vampires are hidden around every bend. With cold calling, charming manners and compelling sales techniques, offering high returns with low risks, it’s easy to be lulled into a false sense of security and trust these fraudsters with your money.

    Lucky for readers, I am here to offer you knowledge and information to help you avoid falling victim to bad financial advice from an unqualified financial adviser.

    Using advice from Chartered Global about financial qualifications, you can discover that:

    Level 3 Financial Adviser Qualifications

    The most basic or entrance tier is the certificate level which is classed as a level 3 qualification within the UK framework, equivalent to A levels. Level 3 qualifications include:

    • CertCII: Certificate in Financial Planning issued by the Chartered Insurance Institute
    • CertPFS: Certificate in Financial Planning issued by the Personal Finance Society
    • CeFA: Certificate in Financial Advice issued by the Institute of Financial Services
    • Cert IM: Certificate in Investment Management issued by the  Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment

    Level 3 qualifications are sometimes held by adviser office staff and certain mortgage or protection advisers in a bank for example. These certificates require passing a selection of exams over 1-2 years and holders will have a general grounding in financial planning and financial services.

    Level 4 Financial Adviser Qualifications

    However, since 2012 financial advisers in the UK have been required to hold a minimum of a level 4 qualification to be able to continue to provide independent financial planning advice.The minimum required qualification to provide independent financial planning advice in the UK is now the diploma level, a level 4 professional qualification.17125003290_0db81b7bdc_k Pension Life Blog - Qualified Financial Adviser

    Look for the following letters or designations to identify a level 4 adviser:

    • DipCII: Diploma in Financial Planning issued by the CII
    • DipPFS: Diploma in Financial Planning issued by the PFS
    • DipFA: Diploma in Financial Advice issued by the IFS
    • IAD: Investment Advice Diploma issued by the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment

    Building on the certificate knowledge, level 4 advisers will offer a well rounded understanding of financial planning and products, from general investments, structured products, to basic pension, protection, tax and savings advice.

    Level 6 Financial Adviser Qualifications

    A full two levels higher are the profession’s top tier of financial advisers; holders of level 6 qualifications equivalent to a bachelor honours degree. Completing a comprehensive suite of professional exams over many years, these top-flight advisers will be designated through one of the following:

    • APFS: Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning issued by the CII
    • CFPCM: Certified Financial Planner
    • Adv DipFA: Advanced Diploma in Financial Advice issued by the IFS

    Advisers at this level will have advanced expertise in the main areas of general financial planning.

    Clients who require expert advice in matters such as investment management and portfolio construction, complex estate planning, inheritance tax mitigation, the use of trusts in family wealth planning, pension and pension transfers, QROPS, personal tax planning, business financial planning or general holistic financial advice will always be better off consulting a level 6 adviser.

    If your adviser claims a CII qualification use this link to check their credentials are up to date. Anyone claiming CII should be on this register.

    http://www.cii.co.uk/web/app/membersearch/MemberSearch.aspx

    *********************

    CISI qualifications information:

    Follow a progressive study route consistent with career paths in the financial services sector. Practitioners working in, or looking for a career in, Paraplanning should complete the level 4 Certificate in Paraplanning. Practitioners looking to work towards obtaining the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM certification should complete the RDR-compliant Investment Advice Diploma with the Financial Planning & Advice unit included.

    The CISI is able to offer candidates an FCA approved, RDR-compliant direct study pathway leading to the level 6 Diploma in Financial Planning and the globally recognised CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM certification, the pinnacle designation for financial planning.

    Holding a CISI qualificationmeans that you are qualified to give Pensions advice. Anyone who states they have this type of qualification should appear on the CISI register.

    To check you financial advisers claims to a CISI follow the link below and pop their name into the search.

    https://www.cisi.org/cisiweb2/cisi-website/join-us/cisi-member-directory

     

    edit: After publishing this blog I was offered some more information about financial qualifications. Holding a DipFA gives you a qualification similar to the above levels 4-6 which means they are qualified to give financial advice on retail investments ie Pensions. Here’s their website so you can check any financial adviser who uses these letters after their name. Anyone claiming a DipFA should show up on their register. 

    https://www.libf.ac.uk/members-and-alumni/sps-and-cpd-register

    *********************

    A company that rates well in being qualified & registered in Blevins Franks Spain, check out our series of blogs Qualified & registered? to see how the offshore companies who offer financial services rate on their staffs claimed qualifications, versus actually being qualified & registered – some of the results are VERY VERY scary.

    *********************

    Pension Life Blog - Qualified or not qualified that is the question - fractional scamming - Qualified Financial Adviser

    Some more points to bear in mind:

    Even CII-registered qualified financial advisers can be bad guys. Despite being a fully qualified financial adviser AND a CII examiner, Stephen Ward, of Premier Pension Solutions has been responsible for a large number of scams. Ward was responsible for the ARK debacle, and he facilitated the CWM scam and Evergreen New Zealand QROPS. EDIT: Stephen Ward has been banned from acting as a pension trutsee!

    Also, “introducers” lurk in the sidelines luring people in and then referring them in the direction of a qualified, regulated financial adviser, who in turn refers them to an insurance company, and finds a provider for the pension and investments etc etc. Unfortunately, this often results in not just one but several layers of commissions, charges and fees.  These all take their toll on your fund. Often referred to as fractional scamming, all of these people get a chunk AND there’s an annual charge (regardless of performance – this is often a % of the original fund value); AND if/when you realise your fund is suffering you may well find there’s an exit fee to top it all off.

     

    So when venturing out for financial advice, please ensure you know that your adviser has the correct qualifications and regulation for the advice they are giving.  A good past-performance and track record would also be helpful.

    Don´t be afraid to ask for proof of this – a qualified and ethical financial adviser will be happy to provide you with their credentials and background.

    If the adviser veers away from the subject of qualifications, veer your custom and funds away quickly.

    If the adviser avoids any question you would like answers to, avoiding giving him and his firm your custom.

    Check all the facts and figures (absolutely all of them) before signing ANYTHING!

    Pension Life Blog - Qualified or not qualified that is the question - Qualified Financial AdviserGet all the information in hard copy and read it at least three times or however many times you need to read it to be completely comfortable that you understand everything.

    Be sure you know exactly where your funds are going, what the charges will be for the transfer and any annual fees and early exit penalties.

    Keep a constant, regular check on the progress of your fund – many pension and investment providers now give online access to check the progress of your funds.

    Choosing what to do with your pension can present a minefield of options and layers of paperwork which you might not understand. Ensuring the people you are dealing with are fully qualified financial advisers is a great start.  Here´s a link to Pension Life members Pete and Val´s video, they were both victims of the CWM pension scam and have been left with decimated fund. Pete states,

    “Assume nothing with these people, if you do your doomed.”

    Please heed Pete´s advice and make sure you know all the facts about any proposed pension transfer and keep a regular check on how your pension is doing.

    I am writing  a series of blogs about pensions, pension scammers and how to safe guard your pension fund from fraudster. Please make sure you read as many as possible and ensure you know everything you should about your pension fund transfer. If we can educated the masses about pension fraud we can stop the scammers in their tracks – globally.

    What is a Pension Scam?

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